Intentions to Marry, 1891

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840403, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole and Luke at Archives NZ Wellington, May 28 2025

A few pages are missing due to focus issues.

The Archives NZ CSV index has recorded pages 765, 767 and 769 incorrectly as 795, 797 and 796.

Page 016

District of Invercargill Quarter ending 31 December 1891 Registrar W. McDow

Date of Notice

Names and Surnames of Parties

BDM Match

Condition

Calling or Profession

Age

Dwelling Place

Length of Residence

Marriage Place

Folio

Consent

Date of Certificate

Officiating Minister

19 October 1891

Edward Alexander Moore
Magdalene White

Edward Alexander Moore
Magdalene White
💍 1891/2839

Bachelor
Spinster

Engaged at freezing works

29
24

Waikivi
Gladstone

29 years
8 years

Presbyterian Church Waikivi

91/3793

19 October 1891

Rev. Robt. Thornton

No	84
Date of Notice	19 October 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Alexander Moore	Magdalene White
	💍 1891/2839
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Engaged at freezing works
Age	29	24
Dwelling Place	Waikivi	Gladstone
Length of Residence	29 years	8 years
Marriage Place	Presbyterian Church Waikivi
Folio	91/3793
Consent
Date of Certificate	19 October 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. Robt. Thornton

3 November 1891

William Alexander Cockburn
Elizabeth Impany

William Alexander Cockburn
Elizabeth Timpany
💍 1891/2707

Bachelor
Spinster

Baker

21
24

Invercargill
North Invercargill

7 years
16 years

House of Rev. Impany

91/3662

3 November 1891

Rev. Jas. Standing

No	85
Date of Notice	3 November 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	William Alexander Cockburn	Elizabeth Impany
BDM Match (94%)	William Alexander Cockburn	Elizabeth Timpany
	💍 1891/2707
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Baker
Age	21	24
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	7 years	16 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Impany
Folio	91/3662
Consent
Date of Certificate	3 November 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. Jas. Standing

5 November 1891

Edward Stevens
Flora Eve Draughton

Edward Stevens
Flora McNaughton
💍 1891/2702

Bachelor
Spinster

Farmer
Teacher

22
25

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
3 months

House of Rev. Geo. Lindsay, A. Draughton, Leet Street, Invercargill

91/3657

5 November 1891

Rev. Geo. Lindsay

No	86
Date of Notice	5 November 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	Edward Stevens	Flora Eve Draughton
BDM Match (84%)	Edward Stevens	Flora McNaughton
	💍 1891/2702
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Farmer	Teacher
Age	22	25
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	3 months
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Geo. Lindsay, A. Draughton, Leet Street, Invercargill
Folio	91/3657
Consent
Date of Certificate	5 November 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. Geo. Lindsay

12 November 1891

George Frederick Martin
Catherine Cook Findlay

George Frederick Martin
Catherine Cook Findlay
💍 1891/2714

Bachelor
Spinster

Lineman

23
21

Invercargill
East Invercargill

3 years
2 1/2 years

House of Rev. Thos. Findlay

91/3668

12 November 1891

Rev. John Ferguson

No	87
Date of Notice	12 November 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	George Frederick Martin	Catherine Cook Findlay
	💍 1891/2714
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Lineman
Age	23	21
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	East Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 years	2 1/2 years
Marriage Place	House of Rev. Thos. Findlay
Folio	91/3668
Consent
Date of Certificate	12 November 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Ferguson

13 November 1891

John McKenzie
Helen McKay

John McKenzie
Helen Mackay
💍 1891/2715

Bachelor
Spinster

Shepherd

32
22

Invercargill
Invercargill

3 days
1 week

House of Rev. John Ferguson

91/3669

13 November 1891

Rev. John Ferguson

No	88
Date of Notice	13 November 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	John McKenzie	Helen McKay
BDM Match (92%)	John McKenzie	Helen Mackay
	💍 1891/2715
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Shepherd
Age	32	22
Dwelling Place	Invercargill	Invercargill
Length of Residence	3 days	1 week
Marriage Place	House of Rev. John Ferguson
Folio	91/3669
Consent
Date of Certificate	13 November 1891
Officiating Minister	Rev. John Ferguson

25 November 1891

David Hall
Mary Winifred Smith

David Hall
Mary Winifred Smith
💍 1891/2710

Bachelor
Spinster

Carpenter

31
28

North Invercargill
North Invercargill

16 years
10 years

English Church, Tay St. Invercargill

91/3664

25 November 1891

Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

No	89
Date of Notice	25 November 1891
	Groom	Bride
Names of Parties	David Hall	Mary Winifred Smith
	💍 1891/2710
Condition	Bachelor	Spinster
Profession	Carpenter
Age	31	28
Dwelling Place	North Invercargill	North Invercargill
Length of Residence	16 years	10 years
Marriage Place	English Church, Tay St. Invercargill
Folio	91/3664
Consent
Date of Certificate	25 November 1891
Officiating Minister	Ven. Archdeacon Stocker

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1903. More registers are being added almost every week.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).